Tomos Proffitt

A technological analysis of the Oldowan and
Developed Oldowan assemblages from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

This research will evaluate the
variation of technological skill employed by early hominins in the production
of the earliest human technology, the Oldowan (2.6-1.4mya),
considering geographic, paleo-environmental and chronological variation within
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, providing a new, detailed understanding of the
development of early human technological cognition.

In describing the typological
classification of Oldowan assemblages in Beds I and II of Olduvai Gorge, Leakey
(1971) differentiated classic Oldowan, (Bed I), with what she believed to be a
change in technological culture within Bed II, Developed Oldowan A (DOA).
Further cultural differentiations within Bed II were designated Developed
Oldowan B (DOB) and Acheulean.

Recent studies have sought to
clarify the technological proficiency of hominin species associated with
Oldowan assemblages (de la Torre et al, 2003, de la Torre, 2004, Delagnes and
Roche, 2005, Stout et al, 2010). Some suggest that the Oldowan industry
underwent a period of stasis in technological skill, up until the emergence of
the Acheulean industry, (Stout et al 2010). The emergence of which was
considered sudden, mainly uninfluenced by previous Oldowan technology. (Semaw
et al, 2009): this technological development may be explained by a sudden cultural,
cognitive or ecological change. Conversely recent analysis suggests a high
level of technological variation (de la Torre et al, 2003, de la Torre, 2004,
Delagnes and Roche, 2005), implying a gradual technological evolution towards
the Acheulean from the Oldowan.

Although recent studies have
attempted to justify the inclusion of DOA into the Oldowan, and recommend DOB
be subsumed by the Acheulean (de la Torre and Mora, 2005, Semaw et al, 2009),
recent excavations of Bed II have suggested that the DOA and Classic Oldowan
may show technological differences, suggesting different technological
responses.

This study will directly assess
whether the Oldowan represents a stasis of technological expertise, or whether
there is diachronic variation, by undertaking a first-hand technological
analysis, assessment and comparison of existing lithic assemblages of the DOA
and Classic Oldowan